The settlement between British Petroleum and the Plaintiff Steering Committee has been reported to be $7.8 billion dollars, and also without a cap. This means that when all is said and done, if the settlement amount exceeds this monetary figure, well…so be it as British Petroleum has maintained the $7.8 billion dollar amount is only an estimate…could be more, could be less.

Either way, consider the plaintiffs paid.

So yeah, I guess that sounds pretty good and hey, at least more of the people who’ve been waiting all this time while their lives were torn asunder, at least now they will finally…wait, what?

The settlement is different for those with seafood claims? What do you mean, it’s different?

From David Hammer’s article in the Times Picayune:

“In the BP oil spill case, a key component of the proposed class-action settlement between private plaintiffs and BP is a $2.3 billion set-aside for seafood claims, the only part of the settlement that’s capped. That’s what BP is willing to pay to compensate commercial fishing vessel owners, captains and deckhands, as well as oyster leaseholders and harvesters.”

Perfect.

So there is a cap for part of this settlement, and it’s geared specifically for those making seafood claims…Okay, well now, $2.3 billion dollars is still a lot of money. The actual amounts paid to the plaintiffs couldn’t possibly exceed this amount, could they?

Short answer?

Yes.

After the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, it wasn’t until four years later the herring fishery collapsed, ruining the livelihoods of so many for years, not to mention the damage to the ecosystem.

But we’ve all heard the reports of the differences here…couldn’t possibly happen in the Gulf. The BP scientists were all over this and the Gulf is so much bigger, and the water is warmer and that makes all the difference, yes?

Perhaps…perhaps in the Gulf, it won’t take four years.

It may only take two…

From Stuart Smith’s blog –

The docks and marinas in hard-nosed fishing communities like Pointe-aux-Chenes and Venice, Louisiana, should be bustling this time of year, but today they are eerily quiet and undisturbed, like a world frozen in perpetual limbo – waiting, hoping, praying for the Gulf’s once-bountiful (even legendary) fisheries to produce again. Current reports from up and down the coast indicate the situation is dire indeed.

The oysters have been wiped out. The harvest for 2010 was the worst in more than four decades. And there’s been little improvement since then as oystermen continue to report catches down as much as 75 percent, from Yscloskey to Grand Isle. Some estimates put this year’s harvest at roughly 35 percent of the normal yield – and that’s if we’re lucky. Crab catches are in steep decline. Brown shrimp production is down two-thirds. And the white shrimp season was even worse, leading to descriptions of “worst in memory” and “nonexistent.”

Also, from an article by Dahr Jamail –

“I was at a BP coastal restoration meeting yesterday and they tried to tell us they searched 6,000 square miles of the seafloor and found no oil, thanks to Mother Nature,” Tuan Dang, a shrimper, told Al Jazeera while standing on a dock full of shrimp boats that would normally be out shrimping this time of year. Dang’s fishing experience has been bleak. “Normally I can get 8,000 pounds of brown shrimp in four days,” he explained. “But this year, I only get 800 pounds in a week. There are hardly any shrimp out there.”

When he tried to catch white shrimp, he said he “caught almost nothing”. He is suing BP for loss of income, but does not have much hope, despite recent news of an initial settlement worth more than $7bn. “We’d love to see them clean this up so we can get our lives back, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”

Song Vu, a shrimp boat captain for 20 years, has not tried to shrimp for weeks, and is simply hoping that there will be shrimp to catch next season. His experience during his last shrimping attempts left him depressed. “The shrimp are all dead,” he told Al Jazeera. “Everything is dead.”

And experts estimate it could be years before things get back to normal.

That’s years of running up against this cap in the settlement the Plaintiff Steering Committee has agreed to with BP.

That’s years of potential catastrophe with no recourse.

Years, all while British Petroleum continues to make billions of dollars in profit while the Gulf continues to suffer, all as a result of British Petroleum’s actions…and let’s not forget that along with this cap, the settlement also negates punitive damages, and this is not a coincidence, not at all. This is a hasty agreement that leaves thousands in the lurch for what could very well be the collapse of the Gulf’s fisheries…

One of the largest employers of Independence, Louisiana, the DoRan seafood processing plant is mostly shut down, “Usually in October, this time of year we usually run about 10 to 12 hours a day, five days a week, with about 40 to 50 employees,” said the owner, Randy Pearce, “As of the end of September, we’re looking at (shrimp) numbers probably down about 80 to 90 percent from the catch in Louisiana.”

Paging Ken Feinberg…Mr. Feinberg?

Hello? You out there?

Randy Pearce continues, “We got originally $66,000 from BP, since Feinberg came in we’ve gotten nothing.”

“I think the last time they came was two months ago,” added Jeff Schwab, DoRan’s Operations Manager, “And they said 10 to 14 days you’re going to have an answer.”

Pearce said he has a multi-million dollar claim.

So, what gives?

Ken Feinberg is hired/appointed to run a claims fund and here is an indivudual with what appears to be a strong claim, yet he is not only having a diffult time getting the compensation for damages his business deserves, hell, he can’t even get a response from the GCCF to tell him what is going on.

Apparently Feinberg is a bit busy?

Perhaps he is hard at work polishing that speech he’ll be giving at Pepperdine University on November 14th, you know, in celebration of himself and the good job he’s doing. In any case, we do know where Feinberg is not, he isn’t doing his fucking job making sure the former employees of, and the DoRan Seafood company itself is getting the money they need to stay afloat, so they can be operational and/or still around to work when/if the Gulf gets back to normal.

Right now, the plant is actually bringing in shrimp from the East Coast, and there ain’t nothing normal about that…nothing. Randy Pearce figures he’s got about six months left before shutting down for good, and he’s questioning whether Feinberg even cares.

What possesses people in charge of a corporation to dispel rumors of a newly leaking wellhead by simply saying the wellhead is no longer leaking without providing video proof?

Especially when that company is responsible for unleashing the worst environmental disaster in this country. Especially when that company has been less than honest in the past…especially when financial self-interest was at stake.

“They got away with the “well integrity test,” which actually became the permanent shut in of the well, and they successfully P&A’d MC252 in November 2010. You might also recall that BP did this while avoiding actually capturing (measuring) the total flow from the well. Because the total flow was never measured, BP has contended that the flow from the well was far less than any other independent expert has estimated, a key tactic in defending themselves from liability claims.”

So, BP runs a ROV camera down at the well site and then reassures the public they’ve looked at the pictures and can say for certain the well remains sealed.

Yet they don’t show the public the pictures?

Now, I don’t write the latter because I believe BP is necessarily lying, or attempting more obfuscation. I write this because it really pisses me off British Petroleum thinks their words can be taken as fact. Right, might as well put David Vitter in charge of the NOPD’s Vice department… And what makes BP think they still have integrity, can do as they like without providing proof? What gives them that nerve?

British Petroleum? Nah...they've made things right already...free cars for everyone in the studio audience!

Most everybody’s aware by now there were an abnormal amount of dead dolphin calves washing ashore this year, as well as a much larger than usual number of turtles dying, and there is of course the red snapper, with the NOAA recommending if fishermen catch the fish, or any other kinds of fish with lesions, fin rot or other assorted maladies they not touch them with bare hands and throw them overboard, all while they continue to maintain the seafood is safe to eat. But, with all these strange events, it would seem to make sense that these occurrences, when placed side by side could be readily explained by a certain oil spill, and a certain dumping of dispersants into the Gulf of Mexico to combat said oil spill…but if you buy that explanation, you’d be wrong.

Dolphins? Probably an algae bloom.

Turtles? Damned shrimpers trawling.

Red Snapper? Well, bacteria obviously.

Okay, then how about the sand dollars and starfish washing ashore along Florida beaches?

From the Pensacola News Journal:

“At first glance, it looks like a coin machine exploded on the shoreline. Thousands of sand dollars cover the beach from the Fort Pickens gate area to at least a mile west. And they’re also directly across Santa Rosa Sound from that area, on the south shore of Gulf Breeze.

The nickel- and quarter-sized sand dollars are all dead. They’re not white; rather, they’re tinged green like a coin left in water. The mass die-off is raising concerns about what killed or is killing the sand dollars and hundreds of sea stars mixed in with them.”

And then we get to the quotes from the locals, a type of quote that those following the events of the Gulf are becoming far too familiar with, uncomfortably so:

“This is not a normal thing,” Mary Lynn White 53, said. “I’ve lived in Gulf Breeze all my life. I grew up on the water, and I always take notice of changes. Something is killing them. I’d definitely say it is related to the oil spill.”

Or this one:

“I had a bait net, and I was able to scoop up the net full of them over and over and over,” said Berta Hurston, 56, of Gulf Breeze. “I’ve never seen anything like this. And I grew up in the area and I live on the water. It’s really disturbing to me.”

I seem to remember many similar statements made about the amount of dead dolphins, (never seen it like this before) turtles (no, not like this) and the condition of some of the fish being caught in the Gulf (been here thirty years and no, never), not to mention the woeful beginning to the brown shrimp season where the shrimp were more scarce than usual and undersized, leading some shrimpers to call for an early end to the season as it might do more harm than good, and the docks aren’t buying them anyway.

In each and every one of these situations, there is an alternative culprit besides the oil spill that can be named…

But this many deaths across this many species, not to mention the fish kills occurring earlier in the year…could reasonable lead a person to believe one of two things…

Either the oil spill is the culprit, BP’s gotta pay and Feinberg needs to revise his estimation that all will be well in the Gulf by 2012 (good luck proving that in court), or…the Gulf of Mexico is in a real lot of trouble.

Neither option is appealing…but my money’s on British Petroleum being at fault.

Call it a hunch, a hunch constructed of several coincidences, with unfortunately more expected to come.

Over the course of a week, it would appear a very interesting development has occurred regarding Red Snapper caught off the shore of Alabama…and it’s all got me a bit confused.

Last week, in the Pensacola News Journal, the NOAA was warning anglers that some fish are sick and may pose health problems if handled or eaten raw. The agency further suggests anglers be on the look out for fish that have lesions, fin rot, or discolored skin and toss these fish away.

Jim Cowan Jr., a Louisiana State University Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences scientist reports that the locations where the sick fish have been found correlate with areas most impacted by the BP oil spill. The NOAA, however, states that the LSU findings are preliminary, but Cowan said he believes the problems are more widespread, “I’m very worried because I’ve talked to both commercial and recreational fishermen who have been in the business 30 to 40 years and no one has seen anything like this,”

“Snapper Season 2011, one year after BP oil spill: ‘Bigger, badder and better'”

Skipper Thierry, a charter boat captain, said he was initially fearful of what the season might bring, but after witnessing scientists continue to search the seafloor for oil and come up empty time and time again, Thierry has had a change of heart, “I think the fish are fine. I think the fishing’s fine. We still have a little bit of a perception problem — or maybe a lot of a perception problem — with the public. Nothing is going to heal that but time.”

As for a prediction about this year’s snapper season, Thierry said it’s going to be outstanding, “We left a lot of fish out there last year, and the spill didn’t kill them. That moves right on up the food chain. The fish are everywhere…I’ll say this: The Gulf, the red snapper, everything out there, is bigger, badder, and better than it’s ever been. And it really is. Nobody can deny that.”

Maybe, maybe not…I guess it all just depends on who you ask, and which day of the week it is.

And that’s unfortunate, very unfortunate because when it comes to all these perception problems, articles so diametrically opposed are a huge part of the problem…

Sen. Mary Landrieu conducted a recent roundtable discussion, the purpose of which was to get to the bottom of what is going on with the claims process for small business…and something strange happened.

Feinberg found a friend.

And that new friend is none other than Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board Chairman Harlon Pearce.

Though Pearce criticized Feinberg for not giving fishers enough priority in the claims process, asked Feinberg to give more thought to how public perception about Gulf seafood would impact the speed of which the industry can recover, and asked for more consistency in the offers made to different businesses with similar claims…Pearce also praised Feinberg for recent changes to the process and the hiring of local lawyers, finishing up by saying, “We’re getting there.”

Such a rare compliment must have had Feinberg simply glowing, and he responded, “My problem is with communication to claimants, transparency and a perceived absence of consistency – not generosity.”

And with Feinberg I would agree, your communication sucks and yes, so too does the GCCF’s transparency. As far as a perceived absence of consistency? Well, if the transparency weren’t so horrible, it might not only better your ability to communicate, but you might be able to do something about what you call “perceived” inconsistencies.

But, admitting you have a problem is the first step.

As far as generous?

I don’t know what articles you read Ken, but just about the only companies I’m aware of that consider you too generous is British Petroleum and Omega Protein.

Anyway, back to Mr. Pearce…

Another person present at the meeting Sandy Nguyen, who works with claimants on behalf of the Small Business Development Center, also had issues with transparency, namely that how settlement offers are calculated still is not clear to those she works with. She went on to say that frustration is driving some claimants to give up…and take the quick payment. Why? The slow crawl of the process is leading people into further financial ruin.

“We’re not sophisticated enough to understand the protocols,” Ms. Nguyen said. “I’ve begged some of these people not to (take the quick payments), but we’re seasonal, so you knock us out one season and we’re struggling.”

This idea of the GCCF stalling people into quick payments was recently echoed by Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Atwater during a newspaper interview when he said if the GCCF were an insurance company, he would audit the company’s books and probably shut them down, “There’s no pattern of effort to suggest to me that this is anything other than one more tactic to stall individuals or small business owners from getting the compensation they need to be made whole, with the intention of dragging this out and having individuals ultimately accept the lowest possible final claim out of desperation.”

Feinberg, for some unknown reason, still doesn’t believe this could possibly be the case, just as Feinberg appears to believe he has no problems with the generosity of claims offers.

And this time, Feinberg had an ally…

Harlon Pearce, who urged fishers to stop playing the victim card, and added, “You’re not going to like what I have to say. There are two kinds of fishermen: ones who want to sell a story and ones who want to sell the seafood. We need to all pull this thing together.”

Agreed, pull this thing together…

But it would seem to me that when the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board Chairman states that fishers are playing victim cards and suggesting the ones who won’t just move on are trying to sell stories as opposed to trying to get their lives back…what might happen is fishers will not come together at all, but be divided over such comments.

Especially when only 10% of final claims have been paid.

Especially when fewer interim claims than even 10% have been paid.

Especially when oil is still being found in the Gulf.

Especially when nobody can tell anyone how long it will be before the damage ends.

In response to Pearce’s surprising comments to Ms. Nguyen, Feinberg smiled, yet again, “Did you hear what he said to her? He’s right.”

Of course he is Ken, of course he is…

The world you live in must be a beautiful and astonishing place, perhaps a lot like the Gulf of Mexico before British Petroleum fucked the whole thing up…and also before you found a way to make it worse.

It would appear a pattern is developing in this great land of ours. Simply put, we begin with a tragedy, then we have an investigation which discovers the governmental agencies designed to prevent such tragedies either fell down on the job or didn’t care, and even worse, the fail-safe for the agency that didn’t do their job is woefully unprepared to handle the mess created. Next, we get public and government anger, utter outrage about the aforementioned tragedy and congress types propose bills, make promises and issue guarantees that a tragedy like this will never happen again, and damnit, we mean it…never.

At least until next time.

What? What happened to the guarantees, the promises and the bills?

That was so last week man, have you talked to my lobbyist?

In a recent report, it was discovered (surprise) that the US Coast Guard was not prepared for a large deepwater oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the unified response to the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe was continually troubled by this lack of planning. Government and private sectors “demonstrated a serious deficiency… (in) preparedness for an uncontrolled release of oil from an offshore drilling operation.” The panel also found many of the Coast Guard staff members interviewed “acknowledged that they were unfamiliar” with the plans to combat such a spill, “even though they held prominent positions” in the command structure for the response. Much of this is blamed on the changes to the Coast Guard, post 9-11. As their responsibilities were diversified, the oil spill response plan atrophied which resulted in problems with coordination and communication. From the report: “While the response plan by BP, the well’s operator, was criticized as unrealistic in the report, the government’s plans were also found to be inadequate and incomplete.”

Okay, given…anyone paying attention to events last summer could have figured out that both BP, the Coast Guard and state officials were caught with their pants down on this one, but…what happens now? New drilling permits are being issued, ten in fact (no matter what Vitter says).

“Capt. Ron LaBrec, a Coast Guard spokesman, said the Coast Guard was reviewing the recommendations and had already begun making improvements. (The Department of Homeland Security has requested an additional $11.5 million in its 2012 budget to help bolster the Coast Guard’s ability to respond to major spills, a department official said.)”

Improvements…

Perhaps a complete change might be more in order? One suggestion might be to immediately discuss and begin planning how to keep politics and corporate self-interest out of the equation.

If not, one might someday read an oil spill version of the soon to be even more tragic story about developments occurring since the Massey Mine disaster, which also happened last April and killed 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia.

If you don’t recall, there was outrage by Congress and the public that federal regulators didn’t have the power to close dozens of mines that had racked up thousands of safety and health violations (sound familiar?). At the time, both parties in Congress vowed swift action. They promised from their pulpits to fix this so no family will ever have to go through this kind of tragedy again.

A bill was proposed. It would have made it easier to shut down problem mines. It would have increased penalties for serious safety violations and offered greater protection for whistleblowers, and it took eight months for the bill to even reach the floor of Congress where two weeks ago, this bill was killed off, voted down by every single Republican and 27 Democrats.

In 2010, 48 coal miners died, the most since 55 were killed in 1992.

As retired miner, Fred Burgess said, whose stepson Ronald Mayor died in the Upper Big Branch explosion, “The miners should have a safer workplace, but the mine companies throw a lot of money around, they have lobbyists all over the place.”

Indeed, and to add insult to injury, it would appear lots of those lobbyists have been speaking to Rand Paul, who recently said in response to the MSHA’s (Mine Safety and Health Administration) new proposals which would reduce by half the amount of coal dust miner’s breathe, coal dust being the primary cause of black lung, “”Every regulation doesn’t save lives…There is a point or a balancing act between when a regulation becomes burdensome enough that our energy production is stifled.”

Or in other words, “What he’s suggesting is to keep the cost of coal down we would jeopardize the health of coal miners,” said Stephen Sanders, director of the Appalachians Citizens’ Law Center.

Oh, and speaking of guarantees and promises, anybody remember a certain town called New Orleans and this little catastrophic failure they had a few years back, you know, where over a thousand people died when the levees broke, in several places?

Yeah, remember all those promises made back in 2005, to guarantee that would never happen again?

Well, it would appear those promises were equally hollow. The Army Corps of Engineers, responsible for building and fixing the failed levees, well…they’re working on it…going on six years later. Which isn’t to say improvements haven’t been made. They have, but do those improvements match all those guarantees and promises President and Congress types threw around during the flood’s aftermath?

Anybody want to by the Crescent City Connection?

Really, I’m selling…

But, back to the Coast Guard and their report. Whereas it’s great they are working on “improvements” to their response, it might be nice to see exactly what they are working on, how they intend to coordinate federal, state and local officials, how they intend to keep financial self-interest and politics out, how their own staff will be trained on any new plans that are so coordinated to ensure each administrative and governmental level is on board, you know, so we don;t wind up with useless sand berms.

It would seem if oil companies have a right to drill out there in the Gulf, and they are…Gulf Coast residents have a right to know what will be done, and a guarantee that it will be done to respond to another spill…even after the anniversary news coverage comes and goes.

New Orleans still hasn’t received the levees promised by Congress and the Corp of Engineers.

And now, Gulf Coast residents are waiting to see if that pattern continues or breaks, and they’d probably like to know which, before the next big spill.

Hell, I would…because if there is one thing I’d…uh…oh damn…

From the Times Picayune:

“A year after the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, Congress has done virtually nothing to address the issues raised by the oil spill — from industry liability limits, to regulatory reform, to coastal restoration, to broader issues of energy policy…”

According to two British newspapers, the Financial Times and the Sunday Times, British Petroleum could be coming back to the Gulf this July…or will they? A government spokeswoman said the government had reached no agreement and no permits are in the offing, but the New York Times reports negotiations are underway with BP exchanging stricter government oversight for rights to again bore holes into the Gulf of Mexico’s sea floor.

Course, that new oversight could be only so much spilled milk as David Vitter this past week released the GOP’s alternative to Barack Obama’s energy plan which among other things would…

“Include some new provisions, including one designed to, in Vitter’s words, “properly limit” the time frame for environmental and judicial review of drilling permits. It would require any party wanting to challenge a federal drilling permit to do so within 60 days, with no chance to later add another legal challenge. It would limit court review to six months, and force litigants appealing a District Court ruling to go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, which rejects the vast majority of appeal filings.”

The GOP plan is fittingly called the “3-D act: Domestic jobs, Domestic energy and Deficit reduction act of 2011.” 3-D, as in what an illusion.

So, to sum up:

BP may be drilling again in the gulf this summer, depending on an agreement that has not been reached which would allow greater oversight that Louisiana Senator David Vitter proposes to end, you know, to save jobs that were lost when poor governmental oversight helped result in BP fucking up the entire Gulf of Mexico.

Okay, well…in the world of Gulf Coast predators and their enablers, that sounds about right.

Or how about that now infamous slogan of British Petroleum’s concerning all things oil spill, that pledge to”make things right.”

Well, as someone who blogs about these subjects, these two statements gave me a lot of mileage. They were tailor-made, a way to give a verbal “screw-you” to the whole damn company every time they inevitably did anything but make things right, or when I mentioned how Gulf Coast residents are far more entitled to get their life back, way more than some narcissist with an inability to shut up like Mr. Hayward.

But, you know…those slogans were getting a little old, a little tired, kind of hard to keep using them in different ways oh-so-many months later, and just when I was starting to get really nervous about what I was going to do as a blogger…well, Bob Dudley goes to the CERA conference and in his apology to his fellow oil and gas industry executives, he spoke of having to regain not only their trust, but the trust of the politicians and the Gulf Coast residents themselves.

And then, Bob uttered the newest catchphrase…saying that British Petroleum gets it, and in order to regain the trust of all, this will require: “Actions, not words.”

Thank you.

Actions, not words…

I couldn’t agree more.

So okay…Bob…if British Petroleum is about actions to regain trust of the Gulf Coast and not just words, then why is British Petroleum reneging on yet another promise?

Turns out that all those boats Bob’s company hired to help cleanup the oil as part of the “Vessels of Opportunity” program are not getting the promised repairs. BP initially told everyone if there were any damages, they’d pay to fix things up, but just like hundreds of thousands of people who have been denied by Feinberg’s GCCF, captains in the Orange Beach area of Alabama are now getting their repair claims denied by BP.

Way to regain trust, moron.

“These boat captains — experts on local waters — were willing and ready to work for BP during the worst days of the oil spill, deploying boom, skimming oil and patrolling for oil sheens and slicks. Despite complaints that local people weren’t always getting first chance at the jobs, the idea of employing the people who were kept from their business of fishing and tourism was sound…(Now) the busiest time of the year for boat owners and captains is again approaching. They need to be out on the water…They made agreements with BP to do a job, and part of those agreements included reimbursements for damages. Instead of living up to its end of the deal, BP seems willing to risk more bad publicity and the possibility that frustrated captains will hire attorneys and file lawsuits.”

“Actions, not words…”

Damn Bob, it’s like when you guys at BP speak, you’re living in this strange self-created reality where you are good, kind, responsible people who care, where the Gulf of Mexico is fine. I understand that in your boardrooms and bedrooms, people automatically take your words as the gospel truth,or at least tell you they do…but out here in the real world, things are a little different. Out here, Bob, most people recognize you for the shameless shyster you are, at the helm of a company who reneges on deals, destroys the environment and is at minimum, partly culpable in the deaths of eleven people in the Gulf.

But, it would seem to you that’s neither here nor there.

“Actions, not words…”

So, I mean, thanks for the new catchphrase…I like it, I think it might be you’re biggest hit yet and I’ll probably hang onto it for awhile…but really Bob, don’t think people don’t realize your slogans are as hollow as your apologies, your integrity and your promises.

Several meetings over two days, 2-300 people a meeting and so many, overwhelmingly critical of the GCCF’s Kenneth Feinberg who stood in front of everyone and extended his empathy, said he was doing the best he could, repeatedly said he would check into it, look it up, see what he could do while at the same time emphasizing the people harmed by BP’s oil spill have three options, quick, interim and final payments.

And by many accounts, he gave the appearance of listening.

But among the hundreds of complaints, a large number were critical of the form they must sign to receive the money, the form that waives their right to sue BP and over a hundred other companies for the damage done to the Gulf, the damage that has yet to be fully understood, by anyone.

And though Feinberg listened, nodded and promised, it would appear he heard nothing.

The administrator of the $20 billion Gulf oil spill victims’ fund isn’t yielding to pressure to change a release form that requires those accepting a final compensation payment to give up their right to sue. Washington attorney Ken Feinberg told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the form stands. He spoke to AP after a town hall meeting in Louisiana with spill victims.

Step right up, folks…this oil spill ain’t over, but your time to decide is running out…

Consider the fishing and environmental front:

Oil residue from the BP spill is still being hauled off by the truckload each day from the beaches of the barrier islands off the Mississippi Gulf coast. In another part of the Gulf set to reopen for fishing on Feb 2nd, a shrimpers’ nets are coming out of the water covered in oil. Florida Fishermen are dealing with the anxiety of knowing fish populations collapsed after the Exxon Valdez disaster. A flotilla of Wildlife and Fisheries boats sped into Bay Jimmy at the edge of the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, passing flocks of white pelicans, some still coated in oil. On Blood Beach, Mississippi, billions of baby clam and oyster shells washed up on shore. In the coastal areas of St. Bernard Parish, more than 8 months after the oil spill, their industry has come to a standstill; a fisherman adds there’s not much seafood to sell. At Grand Isle, LA, Louisiana Bucket Brigade’s environmental monitor Peter Brabeck said oil is rolling in on the beaches of the state park and nearby. “I’ve been here many times and I’ve never seen it looking like this,” Brabeck said of the oil mixing in with the beach sands, turning it black.

Dr. Rodney Soto, a medical doctor in Santa Rosa Beach stated he is finding disconcertingly consistent and high levels of toxic chemicals in every one of the patients he is testing, “I’m regularly finding between five and seven VOCs in my patients…these patients include people not directly involved in the oil clean-up, as well as residents that do not live right on the coast. These are clearly related to the oil disaster.”

“I’m concerned with the illnesses like cancer and brain degeneration for the future. This is very important because a lot of the population down here may not have symptoms. But people are unaware they are ingesting chemicals that are certainly toxic to humans and have significant effect on the brain and hormonal systems.” Dr. Soto is most concerned about the long-term effect of the toxins, because they have “tremendous implications in the human immune system, hormonal function, and brain function.”

But all this notwithstanding, Feinberg and the GCCf require claimants to sign the no-sue clause to receive quick and final payments, and after doing so Gulf Coast residents will have no recourse anymore…

None.

Fish depopulation? Ongoing health affects, a hurricane hitting the Gulf to stir much of the remaining oil back to the surface?

Nope.

Feinberg held five meetings in Mississippi and Louisiana and listened to over a thousand people. Despite extending empathy and apology, he extended little else to anyone…

Shrimper Elmer Rogers, who broke down at the meeting in Laffitte, Louisiana, fell to his knees in front of the neutral arbitrator and pleaded with Feinberg, “I’m not asking for the world. I’m just asking for something to live on…Thanksgiving, my kids barely ate. I barely ate,” Rogers said. Christmas was even worse for his young daughter. “You know what she woke up to? No water in the house and no power. Let me go turn my water on. Let me go pay my bills,” Rogers added before dropping to his knees in front of a packed room. “What do I have to do, get down on my knees?”

When the Laffitte meeting was over, Feinberg commented “I fully understand the emotion, and I’ve got to deal with it.”

That’s nice and all to say to the AP, Ken, but according to your interview with the Associated Press?